birthday prty games for 3 yr old

[katarn]

any ideas for some rituals and games that my soon to be 3 yr old can enjoy at his party. We're having it at our house and we have a nice yard to do some games.. I'd say more but mother duty calls..

tia

[veganf]

scavenger hunt, hide & seek, homemade mini golf or croquet, flower pot painting and plant your own flower, pin the sticker on the whatever, build-your-own pizza/sundae, giant bubble wands, water-squirters (like those little squirty fish), barefootpainting (instead of finger painting), make your own I Spy bottles (with water, baby oil, sequins, etc.).
We've done nerf-type swordfighting too.
Indoors Cranium Hulabaloo is a fun game.

[madskye]

We just had a party this weekend, and it was an orgy of bubbles! Messy, but they had fun.

Stop/Go is a big hit at that age too. You can do it dancing to crazy music.

[emaye_to_2]

We did a scavenger hunt, an easy pin-the-tail, and a game where they pick an animal card and pretend to be the animal for DS' third birthday!

[BlueStateMama]

We rented a bouncy house from a local gymnastics place (way less expensive than regular party suppliers.) We just let them run around, play, and jump to their heart's content (no formal games or activities) - everyone had a blast! I justified the expense in that we didn't do goody bags, or anything really re decorations or other extras (the big bunch of balloons was enough to captive the 12 kids (ages 1-6.) Good luck!

[LuckyMommaToo]

DD's second birthday is next month, and we'll have ages 1-5. I think we're going to get a few big boxes (I'll probably just buy them from the Uhaul store, although it would be great to find them) with lots of stickers and markers (washable) and let the kids go to town.

I think three is pretty young for most games. I would go more for activities (a playdoh table, sidewalk chalk, etc.).

-e

[JRose]

We did a fun game for Halloween that could easily be translated for a birthday party. It worked for a pretty wide age range at the party (including for our 3 year old). I bought some felt fairly cheaply at a fabric store and we cut out the different componets of a witch's face. Then we played it like pin the tail on the donkey where each kid took a turn, blindfolded...only they each added a different piece. When they all had a turn it didn't look at all like a witch and they had a giggle good time properly placing the pieces. We left this hang on the wall for the rest of the party and kids continued to play with it.

You could do a birthday cake or something else more creative.

Good luck and have fun!